Baggers Get Wet, FLH Harleys Liquid Cooled

A wise man once said, “…..predictions are hard, especially about the future”. That little truism is ringing painfully true through the moss covered halls here at the Asylum. Not only did we go “0 for” in our prognostications as to the Motor Company’s 2014 line-up, we said that without question, Harley would NOT introduce liquid cooling on any platform for the upcoming year. Oopsie. Yeah, Milwaukee pulled a fast one and jumped into the water-cooled pool, albeit at the shallow end.

New for 2014 is the Twin Cooled High Output Twin Cam 103 to be found for the time being in the Ultra Limited, CVO Limited and Tr-Glide Ultra models. The motors in these three models employ essentially a combination of air and liquid cooling, meaning for the first time in 110 years of Harley history (sorry V-Rod, don’t count) an HD v-twin will not be utterly dependent on the atmosphere to keep its cool. And trust us fellow Chromies, this is huge, especially for the tradition bound folks in Milwaukee. No wonder they code named this “Project Rushmore”, there are truly historic ramifications in this long anticipated first step.

Liquid Cooling And Fresh Batwing Fairing

The system is well disguised into the fairing lowers on either side of the machine. This is key, because had HD adopted the styling/design cues found on the V-Rod’s radiator (about as subtle as a small billboard) there would have been pitchforks and torches marching on Juneau Ave. No way it would have been accepted by the faithful, which would in turn have negatively impacted the Motor Company’s ability to reach out to new customers with these wet willies. The bikes would have started out as damaged goods. Not cool.

Radiators Are Hardly Noticed

With two radiators (heat exchangers) , one in each lower, accompanied by individual cooling fans liquid coolant is funneled through the cylinder heads, around the exhaust valves and into the radiators. The fans are thermostatically controlled with an electric pump moving the coolant along its way. If you look at the photos it seems that the airflow drawn through the radiators will exit on the outside edge of the lowers, which makes total sense as having them blow directly through would only serve to toast the rider’s shins. All in all, this new system should provide a more stable operating temperature range for the 103’s, which in turn could boast performance levels.

Straight Forward and Simple, HD's New Cooling System

The issue with this system is that it has limited applications across the HD product range. For instance, say you wanted a bagger sans the lowers, bam, there go your radiators. Same goes for Softail and Dyna platforms, no way the current system will work. Clearly this first hurtle, while huge, is not the only one HD has to clear as the Motor Company rolls out liquid cooling throughout the line. There are some real challenges ahead. That said, we think they’ve managed to accomplish a significant goal (and a sadly necessary one given increasingly harsh EPA/CARB regulations) while mitigating negative blowback from the Harley community. They handled that whole form verses function thing pretty well, at least in round one.

Project Rushmore was even more comprehensive in its scope than the addition of liquid cooling on select models, it also included the following; a redesign of the iconic “batwing” fairing (and we have to say in the opinion of the crew at the Asylum, they nailed it) which includes adjustable air ducting for reduced helmet buffeting and increased rider comfort. Touring models were outfitted with a new high-output fuel injected Twin Cam 103 motors, a linked braking system  (we’re not thrilled about this one, let us determine which brakes we’re gonna use and when thank you very much, you had us at ABS), and LED “Daymaker” headlights, the former of which I have on my Road Glide and they are truly amazing, worth every ducket.

Sensory Overload? Up To You

In an effort to at least keep some of the more sophisticated touring rigs from the “other guys” in sight from a technological point of view, Harley upgraded the audio systems which is augmented by Bluetooth connectivity and voice-recognition software with text to speech (awesome….right?!). Step up to the Boom! Box option on the Street Glide and the Electra Glide Ultra Classic and a high resolution, glove friendly 4.3in touch screen can be yours. Other wiz-bang electric crap include Terrain Modeling, Point of Interest Library, Sirius/XM satellite radio……..the list goes on and on, as they say. Who needs this stuff??

All told there are eight Project Rushmore bikes comprised of the following models; Road King, Street Glide, Street Glide Special, Electra Glide Ultra Classic, Ultra Limited, Tri Glide Ultra, CVO Ultra Limited and CVO Road King.

Clearly Harley-Davidson feels 2014 represents major change for the Motor Company, and they’re right. How can you get much bigger than liquid cooling on a bagger platform? Simple answer, you can’t. They are clearly edging in a new direction, not there yet, but on the path. That said, we can’t help but say, “…..is that it?” Seriously, we have no completely new models, CVO lumps stay at 110ci, and there’s still nothing on the “sport touring” front. While we applaud most of the technological innovations (except for that damn linked braking system) we just felt they could have gone even further. Then again maybe we’re just still bitter that we goose egged our predictions……yeah, that’s probably it.